An electronic health information support system developed to help local government units make informed decisions on health concerns has been introduced to the province of Negros Oriental.
The Department of Science & Technology, in partnership with Ateneo de Manila University-School of Social Sciences, invited LGUs from the Province to utilize the eHealth Tablet for Informed Decision (eHATID) making program, a software application currently designed for mobile android devices that offers real-time access to health information among LGUs and medical doctors.
The orientation and ceremonial turnover of the eHATID tablets that has pre-installed health-related information, particularly patient records was separately held recently in Dumaguete City. The beneficiaries also included nearby provinces including Negros Occidental and Siquijor.
“The project provides local government officials with an electronic medical record mobile application that generates reports for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and Department of Health, and also guarantees a more efficient patient record system that will save time and effort for both health workers and patients,” Ateneo Project Director Dennis Batangan said.
“The eHATID LGU will also have a security feature that requires a username, password, client’s secret four-digit PIN for data security, privacy and confidentiality purposes to access the account offline,” he added.
Data from the application will also be transmitted and synched to a central database via the government cloud facilities of DOST’s Advanced Science & Technology Institute.
Health workers can use the tablet offline to input patient records and then synch the encoded information to a government cloud facility later in case the Internet service is unavailable or intermittent.
The DOST and its partners distributed two Lenovo tablets (intended for the mayor’s and health officer’s use) to each LGU to make the project more fruitful.
The Memorandum of Understanding states that stakeholders must maximize the use of the application and secure the physical aspects of the gadget. Every LGU must designate a data encoder to sustain the project.
A total of 58 participants attended the training from 29 respective LGUs. It included Hinoba-an in Kabankalan City, and the towns of Maria, Lazi, and San Juan in Siquijor.
The eHATID LGU project is funded by the DOST’s Philippine Council for Health Research & Development in partnership with Ateneo de Manila University. (DOST)
